Hobart - Despite his runaway success as South Africa’s Test and one-day captain Faf du Plessis could soon find himself out of a job.

Du Plessis led South Africa to a 5-0 whitewash over Australia in their one-day series at home last month‚ and on Tuesday he engineered a 2-0 victory in the Test series here.

But selection convenor Linda Zondi made it clear on Wednesday that AB de Villiers‚ who is out with an elbow injury‚ remains South Africa’s first-choice as captain.

“We’re happy with Faf as our current stand-in‚” Zondi said. “(But) at the moment that’s our position - AB is still the captain.”

De Villiers is at home recovering from surgery and should be good to go early in December at the latest.

The first Test of South Africa’s home series against Sri Lanka starts at St George’s Park on December 26.

Quite how the selectors are going to fit even a player as gifted as De Villiers into a team that is performing above and beyond every expectation is a tall enough order.

But how they are going to justify taking the captaincy from Du Plessis‚ who is clearly more comfortable at the helm than either De Villiers or his predecessor‚ Hashim Amla‚ looms as almost unimaginable.

“We will cross that bridge when we get there‚” Zondi said.

“Faf has done a very good job. It was an easy process for us when the decision was made because he was already the T20 captain. So it was a continuation.

“We are excited to have him as a leader. It just gives us more options. And we have other guys - Hashim Amla also brings experience.”

Such issues are trivial compared to the deep hole Australia are in after South Africa inflicted their fifth consecutive Test loss at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Tuesday.

But the captaincy question will soon be asked‚ and need to be answered. - TMG Sport